Generous deals for Wash. dentists

Michelle Nicolosi of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Washington state's dental board has been slow to act and has cut generous deals with some of the state's most complained-about dentists. The P-I investigation
found that dentists were allowed to continue working in Washington with
little restriction long after they lost licenses in other states, or
were caught running dangerously unsanitary clinics, or had repeatedly
injured patients. Dental board members and staffers from other states
reviewed actions taken by the Washington's dental board and agreed that Washington has given some dentists much more leeway than they deserve. "The board appears to discipline dentists in a way that doesn't adequately protect the patients of Washington state,"said dentist Peter Hartmann, a past president of the Dental Board of California. "With few exceptions, none of these people should be practicing dentistry on the unassuming public," said Dr. Robert Pattalochi, former president of the Wyoming Board of Dental Examiners.